‘Love is Blind’ fans call out Vanessa Lachey for grilling the contestants about having babies

After suffering through some technical malfunctions, the non-live-but-supposed-to-be-live “Love is Blind” reunion finally aired on Netflix on Monday, and fans were quick to react to each awkward moment. One of those moments (actually there were several) was when co-host Vanessa Lachey grilled multiple contestants on their future baby plans.

While it’s perfectly natural to wonder if or when a married couple is going to have children, asking them directly is a pretty big no-no. There are so many reasons a couple may or may not plan on having children, and some of those reasons can be very personal and painful to discuss.

Related: It’s time to stop asking women when they’re having a baby

During the reunion, Lachey brought up the baby topic many, many times.

“I need to know, who’s going to give me our first ‘Love Is Blind’ baby?” Lachey begins within the first quarter of the show. “I don’t want to ask if you’re trying because that’s TMI. Obviously you all are intimate…We’ll start with Brett and Tiffany. What are you all thinking on the baby timeline?” 

To assume there even is a timeline is presumptuous (at best), and asking a couple that question on a television show with a global viewing audience is pretty wild. Bretty and Tiffany are one of the show’s success stories, whose relationship was relatively drama-free and appears to be very genuine.

After Lachey put her on the spot, Tiffany said the couple is in “no rush.” Brett chided Lachey jokingly, saying, “Jesus, y’all really put the baby pressure on, my god.”

Lachey still didn’t let up: “Brett, how cute are baby Air Force 1s gonna be?” (Brett works as a designer for Nike.)

In addition to referring to herself as “Auntie Vanessa” for all of the possible future “Love is Blind” babies, she also threw the same baby questioning to the other two married couples, Kwame and Chelsea and Bliss and Zack. Neither couple confirmed they were planning for children anytime soon.

Viewers were quick to share their thoughts on all the baby talk on social media, with some even spoofing her segments on TikTok.

As a seasoned “Love is Blind” viewer myself, I agree that the line of “when are you having a baby” questioning was unnecessary and intrusive. I also think Vanessa Lachey hasn’t been given enough recent media training to be able to seamlessly ask the right questions and actually listen to the answers. Maybe she also just really really wants viewers to see this show as a successful experiment in love (which we all might have nibbled on during season 1, but come on now), and maybe she views married couples having babies as a sign of that type of “success.”

Related: It’s time to stop calling infertility a women’s health issue

Who knows? I’m trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, because the internet isn’t a great place for nuance and she really might just be too flustered to host something like that.

But one thing I do know is, just like you don’t ever, ever, ever ask a woman if she’s pregnant, you never, ever, ever presume a couple is planning on having a baby. If they want to have that discussion, fine. But only then.